page_title: 2007 Tour de France, Stage 11 to Stage 20
section_title: Stage 19
hierarchical_section_title: 2007 Tour de France, Stage 11 to Stage 20 / Stage 19
caption_attribution_description: Alberto Contador dans la montée Avenue de Cognac (5 kms de l'arrivée), 19ème étape du Tour de France 2007
context_page_description: These are the profiles for the individual stages in the 2007 Tour de France, with Stage 11 on 19 July, and Stage 20 on 29 July.
context_section_description: 2007-07-28 — Cognac - Angoulême, 55.5 km (ITT)
  This was the second time trial stage, with long straight stretches, some beautiful sections of unbending road and some slight inclines (with one located about 600 m to the finish line). It was clear that time-trial specialists would be the center of attention. After an impressive performance during the Pyrenees crossing and the capture of the yellow jersey due to Michael Rasmussen's dismissal, Alberto Contador expressed his concerns about being beaten in the final time trial of the competition. Before the riders located above the 20th place started, Belgian Leif Hoste set a time of 1h 05' 32", making him the 1st ranked rider of the stage for a long period of time. Nonetheless, with the start of the favourites for the stage, he gradually went down through the standings, finishing in 9th position. David Millar, who was expected to be a contender for victory, experienced mechanical trouble, needing to change bikes twice within the first kilometer.
  Three teams dominated the time trial: Discovery Channel, Caisse d'Epargne and Predictor-Lotto. Vladimir Karpets, current Spanish time trial champion, Iván Gutiérrez and Óscar Pereiro secured 3rd, 6th and 8th positions respectively for Caisse d'Epargne. On the other hand, Discovery Channel and Predictor-Lotto set up a fierce fight for the overall standings, primarily involving Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer and Cadel Evans. Of the top three GC riders, Leipheimer was the first off the start ramp followed by Evans and Contador. Leipheimer dominated the time trial, passing his three-minute man, Carlos Sastre, and shattering everyone's time at each intermediate time check before beating Karpets' time at the finish by almost two minutes. On the course, Evans needed to gain two seconds per kilometer on Contador in order to take the maillot jaune but he fell short of his goal by 23 seconds. He eventually completed the course in 1h 03' 35", 51 seconds behind Leipheimer. After Leipheimer and Evans completed the course, Contador needed to cross the finish line within 1h 05' 25" in order to keep the yellow jersey. In the end, he crossed the line in a time of 1h 05' 02", just enough to keep the yellow jersey heading into the final flat ceremonial stage to Champs-Élysées in Paris, putting him on the verge of winning his first Grand Tour.
  Six years later, Leipheimer's results from this year's Tour were stripped.
caption: Alberto Contador on stage 19
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